George Washington @ Penn St. preview

George Washington at Penn St.

Last Meeting ( Nov 26, 2016 ) Penn St. 74, George Washington 68

Coming back from 17 points down Monday against Wisconsin, Penn State’s best player had the ball in the final seconds with a chance to win the game, but super sophomore Tony Carr’s 3-pointer was off the mark and the Lions fell 64-63. With another month before their Big Ten conference schedule resumes, the Nittany Lions will begin to pick up the pieces when George Washington visits on Saturday.

"I thought we had the right matchup and Tony made that decision," Penn State coach Pat Chambers said of Carr, who is averaging 20.1 points and shooting 54.3 percent from 3-point territory. “I am not in his vision, I am on the sideline. I don't know what he saw. But he is a heck of a player and he makes really good decisions, so I am going to trust that decision." Carr shot just 5-of-22 from the floor after missing 10-of-15 shots in the Big Ten opener, a 77-73 victory at Iowa. "We are going to watch this film," Chambers said. "We are going to dive into Iowa a little bit more … and try to get better. I didn't think we played our best basketball, and we still gave ourselves a chance to win.” George Washington topped Temple 71-67 last Sunday and added its third straight win with a 71-60 victory against Princeton on Wednesday.

TV: 4 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network

ABOUT GEORGE WASHINGTON (5-4): Sophomore guard Jair Bolden scored a career-high 25 points on 8-of-15 shooting and senior Yuta Watanabe added 13 points, six rebounds and two blocks in the win over the Tigers. Bolden leads the team in scoring (14.8), assists (3.3) and 3-pointers (25) - more than double any other Colonial. The 6-8 Watanabe, a native of Japan who stayed on campus this summer to train rather than returning to his home country, is also averaging 14.8 points while posting team-best marks of seven rebounds per game and 2.4 blocks.

ABOUT PENN STATE (7-3): Mike Watkins led the way against Wisconsin, scoring a career-high 22 points, grabbing eight rebounds and blocking seven shots to raise his season averages to 12.3 points, 7.6 rebounds and 3.7 blocks. Fellow sophomore Lamar Stevens is averaging 14.1 points and 6.6 rebounds, but the 6-7 forward followed up his 22-point performance against Iowa with four points on 1-of-7 shooting against the Badgers. No matter how talented the three sophomores, Penn State needs more production from its bench, as the reserves have combined for one point and seven shot attempts in the last two games.

TIP-INS

2. Watkins has 41 points on 18-of-26 shooting, 15 rebounds and 10 blocks in the first two conference games this season. He ranks tied for sixth in the country in blocks per game.

3. Carr is on pace to become the third Nittany Lion this century to average 20 points in a season, joining D.J. Newbill in 2014-15 (20.7 points) and Talor Battle in 2010-11 (20.2).